Clara Moreno

Having lived and breathed the music of her native Rio De Janeiro since birth, the souls of the great samba, bossa-nova, MPB and Tropicalia titans resonate in Clara Moreno’s voice today. Clara’s parents Joyce Moreno and Nelson Angelo are two of those titans, whose own careers have had a colossal influence on the shape and sound of Brazilian music since the 1960s. Clara’s early career began when she started performing backing vocals in children’s choirs for artists such as Milton Nascimento, Egberto Gismonti, Joyce, Originais do Samba and Trem da Alegria amongst others. 

With her 2007 debut for Far Out Recordings in the UK with ‘Meu Samba Torto’, Clara felt the urge to pay tribute to the musical heritage of the city she is from: “Bossa nova has always played a very important role in my life, and I decided to go for it with this album and really search for the feeling of what it’s like to be a "carioca". Having listened to this music all my life I had no trouble of thinking of songs to cover and my mother Joyce suggested some nice songs, as did Celso. I feel that the album has a 60's bossa nova feeling, which is great, but at the same time, the music that we have done is up to date and reflects a modern view through the roots of Brazilian music.”

On her second album, the dancing girl for a modern Brazil turns her sensuous vocal to a genre she was born to re-interpret. 'Miss Balanço' encapsulates the 'Sambalanço' philosophy - which directly translates as 'samba with dancing' and evokes the grooving, steamy old school clubs of Lapa, Rio de Janeiro. Released in 2009, it's a rootsy samba record revitalised for the 21st century. 

Moreno's latest album is a reinterprateion of Jorge Ben's seminal debut 'Samba Esquema Novo'. On her 'Novo' version of the album that inspired a generation of Brazilian musicians, she delivers her own audacious charm over the subtle contemporary twist on Ben’s classic original, which plays out in the flawless arrangements and production work of Paulo Malheiros, Luís Paulo Serafim and Juliana Melo, some of Sao Paulo’s brightest young musical minds. The album is a tour of Jorge Ben’s Rio, through the eyes of Clara Moreno, a true modern day carioca carrying the torch of her parent’s generation while stating her rightful claim to an original contemporary sound of her own.